A lawyer for Saeed Laylaz, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabataba'i, told Iran's Fars news agency that the popular political analyst was found guilty of taking part in opposition rallies and possessing classified information.

A top Iranian economist and newspaper editor has been sentenced to nine years in prison for protesting the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

A lawyer for Saeed Laylaz, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabataba'i, told Iran's Fars news agency that the popular political analyst was found guilty of taking part in opposition rallies and possessing classified information.

Laylaz was editor of the reformist economic newspaper Sarmayeh, which was shut down by Iranian authorities last month for publishing articles critical of the government's economic policy.